Bill Maher, 70, Sucks Up to MAGA Nepo Baby, 44, in Cringey Exchange

Detailed summary

HBO Bill Maher’s interview with Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Friday night was a mutual lovefest that ended with the Real Time host suggesting she could be a future…

Bill Maher’s interview with Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Friday night was a mutual lovefest that ended with the Real Time host suggesting she could be a future Republican president.

Huckabee Sanders is the daughter of Mike Huckabee, Arkansas’s 44th governor, who ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008 and 2016 and is now Donald Trump’s ambassador to Israel. She appeared on Real Time with Bill Maher on Friday night to promote her new book, Unapologetic.

Maher welcomed Huckabee Sanders to the show and spoke warmly of her work as Arkansas governor, praising her approach to issues including free school breakfasts.

As they wrapped up their cozy chat, Maher said, “They’re going to come after you to run for president now.”

Huckabee Sanders replied that she was “just glad I still have a job this week.”

Maher spent much of the interview lobbing softballs at Huckabee Sanders, praising her efforts to reduce the influence of unions in schools and arguing that some Democrats who had won in the midterms supported communist policies, not socialist ones.

The interview began with Huckabee Sanders telling Maher that she had been in the audience for one of his shows as a child, when her father appeared as a guest.

Maher’s first question praised Huckabee Sanders for holding on to the governorship amid a Democratic wave that swept Republicans out of office in states including Kansas, Texas, and Mississippi.

Maher described her policy platform as “smart common sense workable policies,” before attempting to get Huckabee Sanders to critique the Trump administration.

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